Ben Rawlence Wins The New York Public Library’s 2023 Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism

May 1, 2023—The New York Public Library announced today that Ben Rawlence has won the 2023 Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism for his book The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth. 

Blending reportage with the latest science, The Treeline is a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on earth. For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north. Ben Rawlence's book takes readers on a journey along this critical frontier from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, Canada to Sweden to meet the scientists, residents, and trees experiencing huge geological changes. Only the hardest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies the atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all and the noble Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family.

Ben Rawlence is a former researcher for Human Rights Watch in the horn of Africa. He is the author of City of Thorns and Radio Congo and has written for a wide range of publications, including The Guardian, the London Review of Books, and Prospect. He is the founder and director of Black Mountains College and lives with his family in Wales.

"I am thrilled that The Treeline has been recognized by the NYPL. The book aims to break new ground combining science, nature and travel writing to bring the urgency of the changes unfolding on our planet to as wide an audience as possible. It is always a challenge telling stories that need to be heard in gripping ways that make people want to read them. I could not be happier that the book's message and mission is being supported by the Helen Bernstein Award," said Ben Rawlence. 

The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Award recognizes works written by working journalists that raise awareness about current events or issues of global or national significance. Winners of the award receive a $15,000 prize. Previous winners include last year’s winner Andrea Elliott, Katherine Boo, David Finkel, and Dana Priest.  

All nominated books were published in 2022 and selected by an 11-person Library Review Committee, which read over 110 books submitted by publishers. The other four finalists were: 

• The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher (Little, Brown and Company)
• My Fourth Time We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route by Sally Hayden (Melville House)
• The Other Side of Prospect: A Story of Violence, Injustice, and the American City by Nicholas Dawidoff (W. W. Norton & Company)
• Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of our Nation by Linda Villarosa (Doubleday)

The New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism was established in 1987 through a gift from Joseph Frank Bernstein in honor of journalist Helen Bernstein Fealy. The award honors journalists and their important role in drawing public attention to current issues, events, or policies.

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